By Ruth Brown, Idaho Reports
The Idaho Senate did not attempt to overturn Gov. Brad Little’s first veto of 2025, issued Saturday to block Senate Bill 1023 on “medical freedom,” instead introducing a new version of the bill late on Monday.
“Medical freedom is an Idaho value,” Little wrote in his transmittal letter vetoing it. “However, this bill removes parents’ freedom to ensure their children stay healthy at school because it jeopardizes the ability of schools to send home sick students with highly contagious conditions like measles, lice, ringworm, pink eye, strep throat viruses, the flu other and illnesses that disrupt families’ lives.”
To overturn a governor’s veto there must be at least two-thirds support from members in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. When the bill passed the Senate on Feb. 26 it was a close 19-14 vote, with two members absent.
S1023 would have renamed the Coronavirus Stop Act, an existing law, to the Medical Freedom Act and prohibited all medical mandates, not just those related to COVID-19. The bill also added language prohibiting a school from mandating medical intervention for any person attending, working at, or entering a school.
The governor’s letter focused on that addition.
“We are proud that Idaho already boasts the freest laws in the country when it comes to personal medical decisions, and we need to keep it that way. Parents already have enough to worry about while raising their children,” Little said in the letter. “They do not need the government imposing more limitations on keeping children safe and healthy from contagious illnesses at school.”
Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Viola, told the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee on Monday that he spoke with the governor’s office and made changes his staff had concerns about.
Instead of saying a school shall not mandate care, the new bill points to Idaho’s law around immunizations, vaccine policy in schools, and the Idaho Parental Rights Act. The parental rights act, passed in 2024, also could change this session after health care providers raised unrelated concerns about its language.
The new bill also separates out daycare facilities, because they do have the option as private businesses to implement different vaccine requirements than schools.
Idaho Reports reached out to the Governor’s Office to see if they were supportive of Foreman’s new bill, but did not receive an immediate response Monday.
Minority Leader Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, was the only committee member to vote against introducing the new bill.
It now heads to the full Senate. It’s unclear if or when it will receive a public hearing.
Ruth Brown | Producer
Ruth Brown grew up in South Dakota and her first job out of college was covering the South Dakota Legislature. She’s since moved on to Idaho lawmakers. Brown spent 10 years working in print journalism, including newspapers such as the Idaho Statesman and Idaho Press, where she’s covered everything from the correctional system to health care issues. She joined Idaho Reports in 2021 and looks forward to telling stories about how state policy can impact the lives of regular Idahoans.